Rediscover the outdoors

You’ve conquered theme parks, hit the beaches, shopped big cities and stayed at all-inclusive resorts. What’s left? How about making a little hay with a vacation at a working farm.

By Melissa Erickson

You’ve conquered theme parks, hit the beaches, shopped big cities and stayed at all-inclusive resorts. What’s left? How about making a little hay with a vacation at a working farm.

Agritourism doesn’t immediately come to mind when you think of a weekend trip, but more urbanites are flocking to America’s farms, ranches and wineries to rediscover fresh air and outdoor fun.

What is agritourism?

The crossroads of tourism and agriculture, agritourism offers a smorgasbord of experiences that “connect an urban population back to the land,” said Jane Eckert, president of Eckert AgriMarketing and editor of www.ruralbounty.com, an agritourism Web site.

Work a dude ranch, pick asparagus or apples. Try your hand at beekeeping or tap a maple tree for sap and turn it into maple sugar. Attend a pumpkin festival or run through a corn maze.

It’s all agritourism. Activities are as diverse as hunting and browsing in a country store.

Why is it growing?

Long popular in Europe, “farm-stay vacations are growing in the United States as new farmers and hobby farmers look for additional ways to make money on their small farms,” said Karen Ritchie, president of the North American Association of Hobby Farmers.

People want a new experience, “an escape from the stress of traffic jams, office cubicles and car pooling. Parents want their children to know how food is grown and that milk actually comes from a cow — not cartons. Families enjoy a drive to the country and spending the day together, especially in these times,” Eckert said.

Beginnings of agritourism

Agritourism goes back to the late 1800s when urbanites would visit friends and families in the country to escape hot, hectic city life. After World War II, people visited rural areas for a change of scenery, according to a University of Florida study.

Over time, agritourism as we know it evolved. A farmer sells sweet corn out of pickup truck, makes some extra money and later opens a farm stand, Eckert said. Soon he’s selling jams and jellies. Others take notice of his success and open and expand their farms, too.

With serious competition from large, corporate and foreign farms, family farmers can make ends meet by adding special activities for visitors, Eckert said. “Agritourism is actually saving thousands of small farms from extinction.”

SIDEBAR

Life on the farm

No matter where you’re from, city dwellers can experience life on the farm usually not too far from home. Here are a few places where you can become a weekend farmer.

Meramec Farm Cabins

Where: 208 Thickety Ford Road, Bourbon, Mo.

What you’ll do: Release your inner cowboy as you take to the trails through the Ozark Highlands on horseback, fish in stocked ponds and help with chores at this seventh-generation farm.

Cost: Cabins range from $160 to $400 a night with single-occupancy rates available.

More info: Visit www.meramecfarm.com

Farm House Bed and Breakfast

Where: 2866 270th St., Fredericksburg, Iowa

What you’ll do: Milk the cows, feed the chickens, gather eggs and fish on this working dairy farm and vineyard. About 90 heifers give birth each month; help bottle feed the calves.

Cost: Rooms range from $70 to $150.

More info: Visit www.thefarmhousebb.com

Hull-O Family Farm

Where: 10 Cochrane Road, Durham, N.Y.

What you’ll do: Milk cows, help deliver a calf, feed the pigs and calves and help with chores.

Cost: Rates range from $45 for children to $125 for adults with kids under 2 free. Breakfast and dinner included.